Sweet on Sophie ( (A Red Maple Falls Novel, #11)

by Theresa Paolo

  “Do you want to go?” he asked.

  She nodded, and he found a weird comfort in the nod. He felt like he’d been beginning to learn her silent language, accepting that she’d never speak again, and he was okay with that. Hearing her utter words earlier had brought joy to his heart, but it also made him realize that it didn’t matter to him whether she ever spoke again. All that mattered was that she was happy and comfortable.

  “Then, of course,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He bent down to her height and pulled out a twenty. “Make sure to get the biggest popcorn they have and share it with the boys, okay?”

  She nodded again, then threw her arms around him. The hug was unexpected and shot an unwavering burst of love to his heart. Just as quickly, she released him and ran over to Travis and Noah.

  “The movie ends at ten,” Kristen said. “If you want, and you can say no, Charlotte can spend the night. The boys set up a blanket fort in the living room and we have extra sleeping bags and pillows. Jax even hung twinkle lights from the top since Noah is still a little afraid of the dark.”

  “You wouldn’t mind?” Drake asked.

  “Not at all. Then you wouldn’t have to come out late to come get her or we wouldn’t have to drive in the opposite direction to drop her off.”

  “I don’t know. She just started talking today, I’m guessing because she’s finally comfortable. Do you think she’ll feel like I’m abandoning her?”

  Sophie’s hand slipped into his and she squeezed, bringing his attention to her.

  “Why don’t you let Charlotte decide? If she doesn’t want to, she’ll let you know.” Her blue eyes calmed him, just like a blue sky on a spring day.

  He was grateful for her. He had no idea what he’d do without her help. He turned to Charlotte and before he could ask, she gave him a nod. Even though she found her voice, the nod was comforting to him. It had become their own language, and he was able to read her now in a way he wouldn’t have been able to if she hadn’t stayed silent for so long.

  “All right,” he said. “You have fun.” He kissed her forehead and let her go off with Travis, who started talking the minute she walked toward him and kept going until the car door shut.

  Chapter 15

  “I guess it’s just the two of us,” Drake said, and he waved goodbye to Charlotte as Jax drove them away.

  Sophie watched as the car pulled out of the parking lot and disappeared down the dirt road. “I guess so.”

  “Is it silly that I feel abandoned? I mean, she didn’t even hesitate.”

  Sophie laughed. “Not at all. I was feeling the same way. But I’ve accepted that Travis’s charm always wins.”

  “He better keep that charm to himself.”

  Sophie patted his chest. “Spoken like a true dad.”

  A smile tugged at the edge of his mouth. “Okay, but if I start wearing all white running sneakers and pulling my pants up to my nipples, please form an intervention.”

  “It’s a deal.” Sophie held her hand out, not expecting the jolt of heat that his touch would cause. She sucked in a startled breath and glanced up, catching his gaze. She imagined him yanking her to him, devouring her in a kiss, but this wasn’t some fairy tale, and she wasn’t about to set herself up for more disappointment.

  She took her hand back and started walking. “We should head home. I can finally wash this paint off my face.”

  “Why? It’s a great look for you.”

  “Let me guess. I look sweet and innocent.”

  “I was thinking sexy siren, actually.”

  “Oh.” Heat filled her cheeks, spreading down her neck and into her chest. “People think because I’m a first-grade teacher and I like cardigans that I’m always sweet and innocent.”

  “Aren’t you, though?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. I like adventures. I like taking risks. And I like passion.” Her voice lowered on the last word, unintentionally creating a heated exchange between them.

  If she wasn’t careful, she was going to give Drake the wrong signs. While he was devastatingly handsome and could fill out a t-shirt like no other, she couldn’t help but remember their awful date. Had he somehow forgotten, or worse, didn’t even care that he made her feel unimportant and an inconvenience that night?

  He hadn’t treated her like that once in the last week, though. Maybe it was more than just the common connection of Charlotte, but still her mind kept replaying the awkwardness of that date. How she tried and failed over and over to get him to answer a single question. How his eyes kept drifting to his phone that she knew was in his lap, though he’d pretended like it wasn’t. It had been the most effort he put into anything that night before jumping up from the chair and leaving her alone in the restaurant.

  So, while she wanted to throw caution to the wind, she couldn’t. He disappointed her once, and he didn’t even know that he did. Trusting him again to not crush her would take time. But she was willing to put the effort in as long as he continued to show interest.

  “Are you relieved?” she asked. “Now that Charlotte finally spoke?”

  “Beyond. Dr. Howard had told me she’d speak again when she felt comfortable, so to think she’s finally comfortable here.” He pressed his lips together as if he was biting back emotion. “It feels damn good.” He laughed. “I think the unicorn lamp did it.”

  A smile tugged at Sophie’s mouth. “While I’d like to take the credit since I found the lamp, I don’t think it was the lamp at all. It was you. You provided her with a safe place and showed her nothing but compassion. You were patient and kind, and you sang terribly without a care in the world.”

  “Hey! My singing is not that bad.”

  She snapped her mouth shut, and her eyebrows darted upward. “Mmmhmm.”

  “Okay, fine. It’s pretty bad. My sister could sing, though. She was in plays and musicals from elementary school to high school. She was really good, too.”

  “Did she try to pursue it after high school?”

  “She intended to, but then fell in with the wrong crowd that brought her down a rough path and introduced her to Charlotte’s father. Sometimes I wonder if I’d pushed college on her, helped her fill out the applications, maybe she would have done something better with her life.”

  Sophie stopped in front of him, taking his hand and squeezing it. “Then she never would have had Charlotte, and to me, that seems a bigger tragedy.”

  His lips parted slightly, but he didn’t say anything for a moment, as if he was thinking over what she had said. “You know what? You’re absolutely right. She might have gone down a bad path, but at the end was this beautiful, bright little girl.”

  “It’s easy to think about the woulda, coulda, shouldas of life, but when you step back and look at it with a different perspective, I honestly believe every single thing happens for a reason. Some of those reasons might be a bit fuzzy and still seem unfair, like my brother for instance, but I’m holding out hope that whatever it is he’s meant for, he’ll find his way there.”

  “It’s a nice way to look at things.”

  She shrugged. “It can all be bullshit, but it gives me hope, and at the end of the day without hope, I have nothing.” Sophie’s stomach took that poignant moment to growl. With a laugh, she pressed her hand to her stomach. “My stomach on the other hand thinks food is the answer.”

  “What, the ice cream wasn’t a substantial enough meal?” Drake asked, and the twinkle in his eyes made her knees weaken.

  “No, and just like the other day, if I don’t get actual food in me, I’m going to get the sugar shakes.”

  “We can grab something here, or I still have a bunch of casseroles at the house. I can throw one in the oven.”

  “Only if you promise not to set it on fire, and you keep me away from any knives.”

  “I think I can do all of that.”

  “Then let’s go eat a casserole.”

  They walked to the car, side by side, his
hand brushing hers on occasion. Part of her wished he’d slide his fingers through hers, but then the rational side of her brain told her to stop creating fairytale scenarios. He opened her door, and she slid into the passenger seat.

  When he got in the driver’s seat, he started the car, clicked his seatbelt into place, then pulled out of the parking lot. There was a steady flow of people coming and going, and Sophie waved to the people she knew as they passed.

  “You know everyone,” Drake said, and she shifted in her seat to look at him.

  “Not everyone. Some people here are from out of town.”

  “Then you know everyone that is from here.”

  “That’s because I was born and raised here, then became a teacher, so anyone who has kids in this town, I’m bound to know. But you know just as many people being the only doctor in these parts.”

  “True, but they only see me as a doctor. I swear they’re afraid I’m going to judge their lifestyle choices and compare them to what they actually disclose inside my exam rooms.”

  “Well,” Sophie said. “I did see you giving Terry hell about her eating pie.”

  “Terry is more than a patient. She’s become a good friend and I worry about her. I just want to make sure she’s taking care of herself.”

  “I know that, and I’m pretty sure she does too. I also think she loves to push your buttons. She was eating a salad before I told her you were stopping in.”

  “What?” His voice echoed through the car. “Are you serious?”

  “Serious as a heart attack.”

  A laugh rumbled up his throat, and he didn’t hold it back, filling the car with the contagious sound. “That woman,” he said. “She’s going to drive me nuts.”

  “I think it’s her mission in life. You know how they say people have notches on their bedpost for how many partners they’ve been with, well Terry has a notch on her spatula for how many people she’s flipped to crazyland.” Sophie froze at her comparison, not realizing how insinuating it sounded, but Drake didn’t make a big deal of it.

  “That would not surprise me in the least.” He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

  “Don’t tell her I told you.”

  “Oh, I won’t. It’ll be better to try and catch her in the act myself.”

  “Good luck. She’s a sneaky one.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  Silence spread between them, but Sophie didn’t feel the need to feel the void. She rather enjoyed the quiet they shared. Sophie watched the town fly by as they made their way to Drake’s place. Most of the town was at the festival, so the streets were even more serene than usual.

  “What made you want to be a teacher?” Drake asked.

  “Honestly,” Sophie said with a laugh, and his eyes caught hers for a moment, and he nodded. It wasn’t something she admitted too often, but she wanted to be honest with Drake. “Summers off, and I know how horrible that is.” She buried her face in her hands. “It’s horrible, right?”

  “That is not horrible.”

  “Stop lying.”

  “I’m not. It’s perfectly acceptable to want a job where you can have the summers off.” She arched an eyebrow in his direction, and his lip quirked. “Okay fine, it’s a little horrible.”

  She laughed. “Thank you!”

  “But you wound up loving it, huh?”

  “I did, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love decorating my classroom with a new theme every year. I love seeing the kid’s faces when they walk in and are in awe of all the hard work, I put in to making my classroom a fun and comfortable space for them. I love watching the kids grow. It’s amazing how different they become from that first day to the last. You’ll see it with Charlotte. They start to blossom into themselves, and it’s really special to witness.”

  “Do you always dress up like an owl and hoot in the hallway?” he asked, and heat exploded in her cheeks. She placed a hand over her face and shook her head.

  “I still can’t believe you saw me doing that, and no, I don’t do the owl thing every year. That’s this year’s theme, and next year will be something different. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be barking like a dog or waddling like a duck.”

  “I’m going to have to see a video of this.”

  She playfully shoved at his shoulder just as he pulled into his driveway. “I’m just saying.” He put the car in park and faced her. “If you’re going to be barking like a dog, walking down the hallways, there should be some video evidence.”

  “Oh no. The world does not need to see that.”

  “I disagree. You can be the next viral sensation.”

  She laughed. “We already have a viral sensation in our town with Cooper, and technically Bex too. We definitely don’t need another one. And besides, they’re much better at it than me. I’ll stick to teaching first graders.”

  “Speaking of which, did Charlotte have any homework this weekend.” She watched the switch in his head flip over, his eyes filling with worry.

  Sophie gasped and grabbed her chest. “Do you honestly think I’d be as cruel to give a kid homework on the weekend? I’m insulted, doctor.” She winked and then silently cursed at herself for getting too flirty. “I don’t give homework on weekends, holidays, or if we did a lot in class that day. Kids need time to be kids. Sitting at a table doing work all night is only going to prevent them from learning who they are as people and enjoying life before it gets all adulty.”

  “Adulty? Is that word?”

  “If not, it should be, and Merriam-Webster needs to get on that.”

  He slipped out his phone and tapped his fingers against the screen. “Nope, doesn’t look like a word.”

  “I’m going to have to send a letter and get a petition going.” She winked again! It was like her eye was short circuiting. “How about that casserole?” She needed to get out of the car. They were too close in the small space.

  She got out of the car and followed Drake into the house. He looked back at his phone. “Do you think I should call Kristen to check on Charlotte?”

  “I’m sure she’s fine. If she wasn’t Kristen or Jax would have called. But if it’ll make you feel better, send one of them a text.”

  “Is this what it’s going to be like now until she graduates? This constant worry and fear when she’s not in my line of sight.”

  Sophie patted his chest, the muscles hard beneath her touch. “No,” she said. “I expect it’ll last forever. You’ll be ninety-five in a nursing home, and you’ll still be worried.”

  “Gee, thanks,” he said. “Ninety-five. I can only hope.”

  “This town seems to have good air and water or something. Lots of people are pushing those numbers. I wouldn’t be surprised if we all make it that long, but unless you feed me, I may very well die right here.” She pointed to the ground.

  “Come on.” With a laugh, he pushed open the door and stepped out of the way for Sophie to enter.

  She went right to the kitchen and sat down at the table. “I’d help, but I seem to be a danger to myself, and I really want to eat the casserole this time, minus the blood and char.”

  “Don’t you worry. I can reattach limbs and set bones, I think I can handle a casserole.”

  “You sure about that? You might want to take the batteries out of the fire alarm.” He turned toward her, and she held her hands up. “I kid.”

  “Pretty funny, especially coming from someone who is still painted like a mermaid.”

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “I totally forgot. Can I use your bathroom and some soap?”

  “I don’t know… I kind of like this look on you.”

  She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.

  With a laugh, he pointed down the hall toward the bathroom. “Face wash is in the tub, if you prefer bar soap, I have unopened under the sink in the cabinet.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

  She hurried toward the bathroom and closed the door, catching a glimpse of herself in
the mirror. And she had waved to all those people. Oh well. She had fun, and Drake didn’t seem to mind the paint at all. Not that she cared.

  Except. She did.

  ***

  The oven beeped, letting Drake know it was preheated, and he popped the casserole in. It was already cooked and just needed to be heated. He set a timer for fifteen minutes, so he wouldn’t forget about it. There was no way he was going to be the idiot who set his fire alarm off twice due to an inability to man an oven.

  He slipped his phone, out and his shoulders eased as he tapped into a text from Kristen. It was a picture of Charlotte and Travis swinging side by side on a swing set. They still had a while before the movie started, so Kristen was killing time.

  A smile was wide across Charlotte’s face, her hair flying behind her in a wave of brown, but what struck him the most was how happy she looked. It was pure and everything he had hoped for her the day he put her in his car and drove back to Red Maple Falls.

  She was adapting nicely, and he knew that there’d be ups and downs, but he’d remember moments like this when she was happy, and he would always fight to get her back to this very smile. He saved the picture to his gallery and put his phone on the counter.

  He had picked up another loaf of Italian bread and decided to cut a few pieces since Sophie never did get her piece last time. He set the table and grabbed a bottle of wine from the rack. He’d only have one glass in case Charlotte changed her mind and he’d have to pick Charlotte up later tonight.

  It wasn’t something he ever had to think about, and now it seemed to come so naturally to him. Maybe everyone was right. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at this parenting thing after all. And maybe he could find the balance between doctor, parent and…whatever it was Sophie was willing to let him be. Whether it was lover or boyfriend, he would gladly take both, though as much as he wanted to run his hands down her curves, kiss those luscious lips of hers, he wanted more too. He liked spending time with her, and just being around her. She made him smile, laugh and see life in a different way. She was creative and fun, and he liked that side she brought out in him.